Foreword

Government must manage its information effectively. Doing so enables better service delivery and supports greater accountability, ensuring that the record of decisions taken today is preserved and remains accessible for the future.

In 2015, Sir Alex Allan’s Review of Government Digital Records report identified key challenges relating to the stewardship of current digital information and the legacy digital collections many departments hold. In response, Cabinet Office, in collaboration with The National Archives and the Government Digital Service, established the Cross-Government Records Management project that I lead. The project is working with departments to increase efficiency in the management of legacy digital information and implementation of new information management systems, and to improve and strengthen information management culture.

The National Archives’ Information Management Assessment programme complements our work. The programme’s reviews and published reports lead to the creation of departmental action plans to address identified areas of risk. The programme has also found many instances of good practice covering governance arrangements, technology provision and steps taken to engage and positively influence staff. Examples of these are highlighted in the revised Good Practice report and the summary document included below.

The accompanying Lessons Learned report, published in 2015, provides a summary of common issues and themes that the programme has identified and that departments need to be conscious of and work to address. The Good Practice and Lessons Learned reports will continue to be updated on a regular basis.

I commend them both to you.

Philip Rycroft 2nd Permanent Secretary, Head of UK Governance Group, Cabinet Office